Chapter 4 - Norah saw something break in Julian’s eyes. Saw the weight of the choice settling in. And she knew that no matter how much he felt for her, Cross Global was everything he had built. It was his entire life.
“I’ll resign,” she said before he could speak. “Tomorrow I’ll write the letter.”
“No,” Julian said firmly. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Julian, be realistic,” Owen said, voice tired. “You know what the board is like. You know they won’t accept this. And if you push, they’ll remove you as CEO. They’ll destroy everything you built.”
“Then let them destroy it,” Julian said.
Norah’s heart stopped because he could not be serious.
“I’m not choosing the company over her. I won’t.”
“Julian,” Norah started.
But he kissed her, desperate and intense, as if trying to convince her through touch that this would work.
When they separated, reality was still there, heavy and inevitable. Owen looked at them with pity.
“You have until Friday,” Owen said quietly. “After that, the board votes. And Julian, they already have the votes to remove you.”
Norah woke in Julian’s apartment the way she had for the last 2 weeks, wrapped in expensive sheets that smelled like him. For 1 perfect, illusory moment, she pretended everything was fine. There was no board. No Isabelle. No ultimatum.
Then Julian came out of the bathroom at 7:30 in the morning, already dressed in a full suit. The expression on his face told her everything she needed to know before he opened his mouth.
“We need to talk,” he said, standing in the middle of the room.
Too distant. Too controlled.
Norah’s stomach sank because she knew that tone. It was the tone he used in difficult meetings. The CEO tone, not the boyfriend tone.
“No,” she said, sitting up in bed and pulling the sheet around her body. “No, Julian. Don’t do this.”
“The board votes today at 2,” he continued as if she had not spoken, hands in his pockets, posture rigid. “Owen confirmed they have the votes to remove me if I don’t end this. If I don’t let you go.”
“Then let them remove you,” she said desperately, getting out of bed. “You said you wouldn’t choose the company over me. You promised.”
“I’m not choosing,” he interrupted, finally looking at her.
The pain in his eyes was so intense it physically hurt.
“I’m protecting you, Norah. You don’t understand. If I force this, if I make them remove me, Isabelle won’t stop. She’ll come after you. She’ll destroy your reputation. She’ll make sure you never get work at any decent company in Manhattan. She has enough connections to do that. And I won’t let your career be ruined because of me.”
“My career,” Norah repeated, incredulous. “Julian, I don’t care about my career. I care about you.”
“And I care about your future,” he said, voice breaking slightly at the edges. “You deserve someone who can give you everything. Someone who doesn’t put you in this impossible position. Someone who—”
“No.”
Norah interrupted, crossing the room until she stood in front of him, hands on his chest.
“Don’t do this. Don’t pretend this is about protecting me when it’s about you being afraid. You’re afraid to fight for this. To fight for us.”
“I’m not afraid,” he said.
But his hands came to her face, thumbs tracing her cheeks, contradicting the words.
“I’m being realistic. This was never going to work anyway. I’m your boss. You’re—”
“Your assistant,” she finished bitterly. “I know. Isabelle reminded me. You’re reminding me now. Apparently, it’s all I am.”
“You know that’s not true.”
Julian pulled her against him, forehead resting against hers.
“You’re everything to me. Everything. But that’s exactly why I can’t be selfish. I can’t keep you trapped in this when it means you’ll lose everything.”
“You’re all I want,” Norah whispered, eyes burning with tears she refused to let fall. “Please don’t do this. Please.”
He kissed her.
It was different from all the other kisses. Desperate and final, tasting like goodbye.
When they separated, his eyes were closed as if looking at her was too painful.
“I need you to resign,” he said. “Today. Before the vote. So it’s clear that it’s over. So the board has no reason to continue.”
“No.”
“Norah, please.”
“No,” she repeated more firmly, stepping away from him. “If you want to end this, then end it. But I’m not going to make it easy for you. I’m not going to resign and pretend this was my choice when it clearly wasn’t.”
“Norah—”
“I’m going to get dressed and leave,” she said, picking up her clothes from the floor where they had been abandoned the night before, when they had still been happy, when they had still been them. “And you’re going to do what you have to do, and I’m going to do what I have to do. But don’t ask me to make this pain easier for you.”
She dressed in silence, feeling his eyes on her the entire time. When she was ready, when she reached the door, he spoke 1 last time.
“I love you,” Julian said.
The words should have been beautiful. They only hurt.
“I love you, and that’s exactly why I’m letting you go.”
Norah closed the door without answering because if she spoke, if she admitted that she loved him too, she would completely fall apart.
The resignation letter took 20 minutes to write and 5 seconds to deliver to HR.
Effective immediately. No notice.
When she returned to her cubicle to get her things, Leo was there with wide eyes.
“Norah, what did you do?”
“What I had to do,” she said, putting photos and pens into a box. “I resigned.”
“Because of him?” Leo asked quietly. “Because of Julian?”
She did not answer, but she did not need to. The answer was clear on her face, and Leo hugged her tightly while she finally let the tears fall.
2 weeks later, Norah was in her apartment with Mara, who was on her couch for the 5th time that week, trying to convince her to get out of bed.
“Honey, you need to eat something that isn’t ice cream. You need to change out of pajamas. You need to stop watching sad movies and crying.”
“I’m fine,” Norah lied. “Obviously. Perfectly fine.”
Her phone buzzed with a message from Leo.
“Julian is destroyed. Owen said he doesn’t sleep, doesn’t eat. The company’s suffering because he can’t focus. He’s a complete disaster.”
Good, Norah thought bitterly.
At least it was not just her.
Julian was in the office for the 16th consecutive hour. His eyes were red from exhaustion. 3 empty coffee cups sat on the desk.
Owen was fed up.
“You’re an idiot,” Owen said, entering without knocking. “A complete and total idiot.”
“Owen, I’m not in the mood.”
“You love her,” Owen interrupted. “You’re miserable without her. The company is suffering because you can’t concentrate on anything except how you ruined everything. And yet you’re here pretending you did the right thing.”
“I protected her.”
“You protected yourself,” Owen corrected brutally. “You got scared and ran. And now you’re both destroyed. And for what? For nothing. Because the company is still here. The board is still here. But she’s not. And you’re miserable.”
“What do you want me to do?” Julian finally exploded. “The board made it clear.”
“The board made nothing clear because I talked to them,” Owen said, throwing a folder onto the desk. “There’s no policy against relationships, Julian. None. I checked personally. The employee handbook, the corporate guidelines, everything.”
Julian froze.
“What?”
“Isabelle lied,” Owen said. “She made up the rule. Planted fear in the board about possible scandals. But there’s no actual policy. She manipulated you, and you fell for it completely.”
The silence that followed was absolute.
Owen saw the exact moment realization hit Julian. Saw the anger, pain, and regret all at once.
“She lied,” Julian repeated, voice dangerously low.
“She lied,” Owen confirmed. “And you let Norah go for nothing. You destroyed both of you over a lie.”
Julian was already getting up and grabbing his jacket.
“Where is she?”
“Probably at her apartment hating you,” Owen replied. “But Julian, it’s going to take more than apologies to fix this.”
“I know,” Julian said, already at the door. “But I’m going to try. I’ll beg if I have to. Because I can’t live like this. I can’t live without her.”
The rain started at 7:00 and had not stopped. It was the kind of storm that made Manhattan look gray and desolate. Norah was on the couch, wrapped in blankets, watching the same romantic comedy for the 3rd time that week because apparently she was a masochist and liked reminding herself that happy endings existed for everyone except her.
Mara had left an hour earlier after making Norah promise she would shower and eat something real. They were promises Norah obviously did not intend to keep because changing out of pajamas required energy she did not have.
She was considering ordering Chinese food for the 4th time that week when she heard loud knocking at the door. Insistent and urgent.
Her heart did the stupid thing where it raced, because for 1 irrational second, she thought it might be him.
Obviously it was not. Julian had made it very clear 2 weeks earlier that protecting her meant letting her go. It was probably Mara, who had forgotten something, or Leo, coming to force her out of the house.
Norah opened the door and froze completely.
It was him.
Julian Cross stood in her building hallway, soaked from head to toe. His hair dripped water. His suit was completely ruined. He was breathless, as if he had run there.
“Norah.”
He said her name like a prayer.
She should have slammed the door in his face. She should have screamed. She should have done anything except stand there staring at him like an idiot.
“What are you doing here?” she managed, her voice weaker than intended.
“I’m an idiot,” he said directly. No beating around the bush. “A complete and total idiot. And I need you to forgive me.”
“Julian—”
“She lied,” he interrupted, taking a step forward, water dripping onto the hallway floor. “Isabelle lied. There’s no policy. No rule against relationships. She made it all up. I believed it and let you go. And it was the biggest mistake of my life.”
The words took a second to process. When they did, anger came in waves.
“You let me go.”
She practically screamed.
“You broke up with me. You made me resign. You made me believe I wasn’t enough. And now you show up here soaking wet, telling me it was all a lie?”
“I know,” he said, and the pain in his voice was palpable. “I know. I have no excuse. I was afraid. Afraid to fight. Afraid to risk everything for you. And I ended up losing the only thing that really mattered.”
“You can’t just show up here and—”
“I love you,” he interrupted, voice firm now. “I love you, Norah Quinn. I’ve loved you since that night when you sent drunk texts saying I was inappropriately gorgeous. I’ve loved you since I carried you out of the bar and you said I smelled like power. I’ve loved you since the first day you walked into my office with those glasses and that cardigan and pretended not to be dying of nerves.”
Tears were running down her face now, mixed with the rain coming in through the open door.
“You hurt me.”
“I know.”
He came closer.
“And I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for it if you let me. I’ll spend every day proving that you’re everything to me. That I choose you over anything. Over the company. Over the board. Over everything.”
“Julian, I can’t go through this again,” she said, voice breaking. “I can’t love you and lose you again.”
“Then don’t lose me.”
He took her face in his wet hands.
“Stay with me. Forgive me. Give me another chance. And I promise I’ll never let you go again. Never.”
“How can I trust that?” she asked.
Even though she already knew the answer. Even though she could feel the walls she had built over the last 2 weeks starting to crack.
“Because I fired Isabelle,” he said. “Sent her away from the board, cut all ties. And because I came here in the rain like a complete romantic movie cliché to beg you to come back because I literally can’t function without you.”
It was so ridiculous, so absurdly cliché, that Norah laughed through the tears.
“You’re soaking wet.”
“I am,” he agreed. “And I’ll probably get pneumonia. But it was worth it if it means you’ll forgive me.”
“You really are an idiot,” she said.
But her hands were already on the lapels of his wet suit, pulling him into the apartment.
“Is that a yes?” he asked hopefully.
“It’s a maybe,” she replied.
But she was smiling now.
“You’re going to have to convince me.”
He kissed her right there in the apartment hallway, wet and desperate and perfect.
The door of the apartment next door opened. 70-year-old Mrs. Chen peeked out and started to clap. Then more doors opened. More neighbors appeared. Suddenly there was a small audience watching Julian Cross kiss Norah like his life depended on it.
When they finally separated, breathless, at least 5 neighbors were in the hallway, smiling. Mrs. Chen shouted, “Finally,” in Mandarin before going back into her apartment.
“You’ve become a public spectacle,” Norah said against Julian’s mouth.
“I don’t care,” he replied. “Let everyone know. Let the whole world know that I love you and that I’m yours.”
In that moment, with him soaking wet in her apartment, neighbors gossiping in the hallway, and everything a complete and imperfect mess, Norah finally understood that this thing between them was worth every risk.
Months later, the plaque on Norah’s door said Chief Operating Officer, and it still felt surreal.
The promotion had come 2 months earlier, after she proved she could manage entire operations without needing anyone’s validation. Julian insisted it was purely merit, though everyone knew the CEO being completely in love with the COO had definitely helped.
The entire office knew by then. It had been impossible to keep it secret after Julian kissed Norah in front of everyone at the corporate Christmas party. The initial gossip eventually turned into acceptance, even affection.
Leo had a bet running on when the proposal would happen. Mara was Norah’s self-proclaimed maid of honor. Owen smiled smugly every time he saw them together, as if he had orchestrated everything from the beginning.
During a Thursday afternoon meeting, Norah’s phone buzzed.
It was a message from Julian, even though he was literally on the other side of the table.
“Dinner tonight. I have a surprise.”
Norah smiled and replied, “What kind of surprise?”
“The kind that involves you, me, and no work clothes.”
Norah bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud and saw Julian looking directly at her with the half smile that still made her stomach flip.
Owen rolled his eyes and murmured, “You 2 are impossible.”
But he was smiling too.
At the end of the day, Norah texted Julian.
“Come get me.”
This time, she added, “But never let me go again.”
The response came in seconds.
“Never again.”
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When Julian appeared in her office 5 minutes later, tie loosened, smile on his face, hand extended toward her, Norah took that hand and let him guide her out.
This time, she knew with absolute certainty that it was forever.
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